All Nobel Prize laureates in literature. Nobel Prize for Literature (Nobelpriset i litteratur), Sweden

“In works of great emotional power, he revealed the abyss that lies beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world,” says the official release published on the Nobel Committee’s website announcing the new Nobel laureate in literature, British writer of Japanese origin Kazuo Ishiguro.

A native of Nagasaki, he moved with his family to Britain in 1960. The writer’s first novel, “Where the Hills Are in the Haze,” was published in 1982 and was dedicated specifically to his hometown and new homeland. The novel tells the story of a Japanese woman who, after the suicide of her daughter and moving to England, cannot shake off haunting dreams of the destruction of Nagasaki.

Great success came to Ishiguro with the novel The Remains of the Day (1989),

dedicated to the fate of the former butler, who served one noble house all his life. For this novel, Ishiguro received the Booker Prize, and the jury voted unanimously, which is unprecedented for this award. In 1993, American director James Ivory filmed this book starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

The writer's fame was greatly supported by the release in 2010 of the dystopian film Never Let Me Go, which takes place in an alternative Britain at the end of the twentieth century, where children who donate organs for cloning are raised in a special boarding school. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and others.

In 2005, this novel was included in the list of the hundred best according to Time magazine.

Kazuo's latest novel, The Buried Giant, published in 2015, is considered one of his strangest and most daring works. This is a medieval fantasy novel in which an elderly couple's journey to neighboring village going to his son becomes the road to his own memories. Along the way, the couple defends themselves from dragons, ogres and other mythological monsters. You can read more about the book.

Ishiguro has been compared to Vladimir Nabokov and Joseph Conrad - these two authors, Russian and Polish respectively, managed to create outstanding works in their non-native English language.

British and American critics note that Ishiguro (who calls himself British, not Japanese) has done a lot to transform English into universal language world literature.

Ishiguro's novels have been translated into more than 40 languages.

In Russian, the writer, in addition to his two main hits “Don’t Let Me Go” and “The Buried Giant,” published the early “Artist of the Unsteady World.”

By tradition, the name of the future laureate is kept in the strictest confidence until the announcement. The list of candidates compiled by the Swedish Academy is also classified and will only become known after 50 years.

The Nobel Prize for Literature is one of the most prestigious and significant in the literary world. Awarded annually since 1901. A total of 107 awards were awarded. According to the charter of the Nobel Foundation, only members of the Swedish Academy, professors of literature and linguistics at various universities, Nobel Prize laureates in literature, and heads of authors' unions in different countries can nominate candidates for the prize.

Last year, I unexpectedly received the award American musician Bob Dylan "for creating new poetic expressions in the great American song tradition." The musician did not come to the presentation, having conveyed a letter through the singer Patti Smith, in which he expressed doubts that his texts can be considered literature.

Over the years, the winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature have been Selma Lagerlöf, Romain Rolland, Thomas Mann, Knut Hamsun, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Orhan Pamuk and others. Among the laureates who wrote in Russian are Ivan Bunin, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokhov, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Joseph Brodsky, Svetlana Alexievich.

This year's award amount is $1.12 million. The award ceremony will take place at the Stockholm Philharmonic on December 10, the day of the death of the founder of the prize, Alfred Nobel.

Literary rate

Every year, it is the Nobel Prize in Literature that arouses particular interest among bookmakers - in no other discipline in which the award is given does such a stir occur. The list of this year's favorites, according to the bookmaker companies Ladbrokes, Unibet, and Betting League, includes Kenyan Ngugi Wa Thiong'o (5.50), Canadian writer and critic Margaret Atwood (6.60), Japanese writer Haruki Murakami (odds 2. thirty). The current laureate’s fellow countryman, the author of “The Sheep Hunt” and “After Dark,” however, has been promised a Nobel for many years, just like another “eternal” literary Nobel nominee, the famous Syrian poet Adonis. However, both of them remain without a reward year after year, and the bookmakers are slightly perplexed.

Other candidates this year included: Chinese Ian Leanke, Israeli Amos Oz, Italian Claudio Magris, Spaniard Javier Marias, American singer and poet Patti Smith, Peter Handke from Austria, South Korean poet and prose writer Ko Eun, Nina Bouraoui from France, Peter Nadas from Hungary, American rapper Kanye West and others.

In the entire history of the award, bookmakers have made no mistakes only three times:

In 2003, when the victory was awarded to the South African writer John Coetzee, in 2006 with the famous Turk Orhan Pamuk, and in 2008 with the Frenchman Gustave Leclezio.

“What bookmakers use when determining favorites is unknown,” says the literary expert, Chief Editor Gorky Media resource Konstantin Milchin, “it is only known that a few hours before the announcement, the odds on who later turns out to be the winner drop sharply to unfavorable values.” Whether this means that someone is supplying bookmakers with information several hours before the announcement of the winners, the expert refused to confirm. According to Milchin,

Bob Dylan was at the bottom of the list last year, as was Svetlana Alexievich in 2015.

According to the expert, a few days before the announcement of the current winner, bets on Canadian Margaret Atwood and Korean Ko Eun dropped sharply.

The name of the future laureate is traditionally kept in the strictest confidence until the announcement. The list of candidates compiled by the Swedish Academy is also classified and will only become known after 50 years.

The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III to support and develop the Swedish language and literature. It consists of 18 academicians who are elected to their posts for life by other members of the academy.

On December 10, 1933, King Gustav V of Sweden awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to the writer Ivan Bunin, who became the first Russian writer to be awarded this high award. In total, the prize, established by the inventor of dynamite Alfred Bernhard Nobel in 1833, was received by 21 people from Russia and the USSR, five of them in the field of literature. True, historically it turned out that for Russian poets and writers the Nobel Prize was fraught with big problems.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin distributed the Nobel Prize to friends

It is known that Nobel laureates have the right to decide for themselves how to spend the money they receive. Some people invest in the development of science, some in charity, some in own business. Bunin, a creative person and devoid of “practical ingenuity,” disposed of his bonus, which amounted to 170,331 crowns, completely irrationally. Poet and literary critic Zinaida Shakhovskaya recalled: “ Returning to France, Ivan Alekseevich... in addition to money, began to organize feasts, distribute “benefits” to emigrants, and donate funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invested the remaining amount in some “win-win business” and was left with nothing».

Ivan Bunin is the first emigrant writer to be published in Russia. True, the first publications of his stories appeared in the 1950s, after the writer’s death. Some of his works, stories and poems, were published in his homeland only in the 1990s.

Dear God, why are you
Gave us passions, thoughts and worries,
Do I thirst for business, fame and pleasure?
Joyful are cripples, idiots,
The leper is the most joyful of all.
(I. Bunin. September, 1917)

Boris Pasternak refused the Nobel Prize

The writing community in the poet’s homeland took this news extremely negatively and on October 27, Pasternak was unanimously expelled from the Union of Writers of the USSR, at the same time filing a petition to deprive Pasternak of Soviet citizenship. In the USSR, Pasternak's receipt of the prize was associated only with his novel Doctor Zhivago. The literary newspaper wrote: “Pasternak received “thirty pieces of silver,” for which the Nobel Prize was used. He was awarded for agreeing to play the role of bait on the rusty hook of anti-Soviet propaganda... An inglorious end awaits the resurrected Judas, Doctor Zhivago, and his author, whose lot will be popular contempt.”.

The mass campaign launched against Pasternak forced him to refuse the Nobel Prize. The poet sent a telegram to the Swedish Academy in which he wrote: “ Due to the importance that the award given to me has received in the society to which I belong, I must refuse it. Please don't take my voluntary refusal as an insult.».

It is worth noting that in the USSR, until 1989, even in the school literature curriculum there was no mention of Pasternak’s work. The first to decide to introduce en masse Soviet people with the creative work of Pasternak, director Eldar Ryazanov. In his comedy “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” (1976) he included the poem “There will be no one in the house”, transforming it into an urban romance, which was performed by the bard Sergei Nikitin. Ryazanov later included in his film “ Love affair at work"An excerpt from another poem by Pasternak - “Loving others is a heavy cross..." (1931). True, it sounded in a farcical context. But it is worth noting that at that time the very mention of Pasternak’s poems was a very bold step.

It's easy to wake up and see clearly,
Shake out the verbal trash from the heart
And live without getting clogged in the future,
All this is not a big trick.
(B. Pasternak, 1931)

Mikhail Sholokhov, receiving the Nobel Prize, did not bow to the monarch

Gustav Adolf VI, who presented the prize to the Soviet writer, called him “one of the most outstanding writers our time". Sholokhov did not bow to the king, as prescribed by the rules of etiquette. Some sources claim that he did this intentionally with the words: “We Cossacks do not bow to anyone. In front of the people, please, but I won’t do it in front of the king...”

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was deprived of Soviet citizenship because of the Nobel Prize

October 8, 1970 “for moral strength, drawn from the tradition of great Russian literature,” Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize. This became the reason for persecution of Solzhenitsyn in the USSR. In 1971, all the writer’s manuscripts were confiscated, and in the next 2 years, all his publications were destroyed. In 1974, a Decree was issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which deprived Alexander Solzhenitsyn of Soviet citizenship and deported him from the USSR for systematically committing actions incompatible with belonging to USSR citizenship and causing damage to the USSR.

The writer’s citizenship was returned only in 1990, and in 1994 he and his family returned to Russia and actively became involved in public life.

Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky was convicted of parasitism in Russia

In 1972, Brodsky turned to Secretary General Brezhnev with a request to work in his homeland as a translator, but his request remained unanswered, and he was forced to emigrate. Brodsky first lives in Vienna, London, and then moves to the United States, where he becomes a professor at New York, Michigan and other universities in the country.

On December 10, 1987, Joseph Brosky was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry.” It is worth saying that Brodsky, after Vladimir Nabokov, is the second Russian writer who writes in English as his native language.

The sea was not visible. In the whitish darkness,
swaddled on all sides, absurd
it was thought that the ship was heading towards land -
if it was a ship at all,
and not a clot of fog, as if poured
who whitened it in milk?
(B. Brodsky, 1972)

Interesting fact
For the Nobel Prize in different time nominated, but never received it, such famous personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Franklin Roosevelt, Nicholas Roerich and Leo Tolstoy.

Literature lovers will definitely be interested in this book, which is written with disappearing ink.

Nobel Prize in Literature

What is the Nobel Prize?

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize for Literature (Swedish: Nobelpriset i litteratur) has been awarded annually to an author from any country who, according to Alfred Nobel's will, has created "the most outstanding literary work idealistic orientation" (Swedish primary source: den som inom litteraturen har producerat det mest framstående verket i en idealisk riktning). Despite the fact that individual works are sometimes noted as particularly noteworthy, here "work" refers to the author's legacy as a whole. The Swedish Academy decides each year who will receive the prize, if anyone is awarded it at all. The Academy announces the selected laureate in early October. The Nobel Prize for Literature is one of five established by Alfred Nobel in his will in 1895. Other awards: Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Peace Prize and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Although the Nobel Prize for Literature has become the most prestigious literary prize in the world, the Swedish Academy has attracted considerable criticism for the way the prize is awarded. Many authors who received the prize have retired from writing, while others who were rejected by the jury remain widely studied and read. The prize "has come to be widely regarded as political - a peace prize in literary guise." Judges are biased towards authors with political views, different from their own. Tim Parks noted skeptically that "Swedish professors... dare to compare a poet from Indonesia, perhaps translated into English, with a novelist from Cameroon, whose work is probably only available on French, and another who writes in Afrikaans but is published in German and Dutch..." As of 2016, 16 of the 113 laureates were Scandinavian origin. The Academy was often accused of favoring European, and in particular Swedish, authors. Some significant figures, such as the Indian academic Sabari Mitra, have noted that although the Nobel Prize in Literature is significant, and tends to outshine other awards, it "is not the only standard of literary excellence."

The “vague” wording that Nobel gave to the criteria for assessing the award leads to ongoing controversy. Originally in Swedish, the word idealisk is translated either as “idealistic” or “ideal”. The Nobel committee's interpretation has changed over the years. In recent years there has been a kind of idealism in defending human rights on a large scale.

History of the Nobel Prize

Alfred Nobel stipulated in his will that his money should be used to establish a series of prizes for those who bring "the greatest benefit to humanity" in the fields of physics, chemistry, peace, physiology or medicine, and literature. Although Nobel wrote several wills during of his life, the latter was written just over a year before his death, and signed at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris on November 27, 1895. Nobel bequeathed 94% of his total assets, that is, 31 million Swedish kronor (198 million US dollars, or €176 million as of 2016), to establish and award five Nobel Prizes. Due to the high level of skepticism surrounding his will, it was not put into effect until April 26, 1897, when the Storting (Norwegian parliament) approved it. his bequests were Ragnar Sulman and Rudolf Liljequist, who established the Nobel Foundation to take care of Nobel's estate and organize the prizes.

The members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee who were to award the Peace Prize were appointed shortly after the will was approved. Following these, the awarding organizations were appointed: the Karolinska Institute on June 7, the Swedish Academy on June 9, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on June 11. The Nobel Foundation then reached agreement on the basic principles according to which the Nobel Prize should be awarded. In 1900, King Oscar II promulgated the newly established statutes of the Nobel Foundation. According to Nobel's will, the Royal Swedish Academy was to award a prize in literature.

Candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature

Every year, the Swedish Academy sends out requests for nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Members of the Academy, members of literary academies and societies, professors of literature and language, former laureates The Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as the presidents of writers' organizations, all have the right to nominate a candidate. You are not allowed to nominate yourself.

Thousands of requests are submitted each year, and as of 2011, approximately 220 proposals have been rejected. These proposals must be received by the Academy by February 1, after which they are considered by the Nobel Committee. Until April, the Academy reduces the number of candidates to about twenty. By May, the Committee approves a final list of five names. The next four months are spent reading and reviewing the work of these five candidates. In October, Academy members vote and the candidate who receives more than half the votes is declared the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. No one can win the award without being on the list at least twice, so many authors are considered repeatedly over several years. The Academy speaks thirteen languages, but if a shortlisted candidate works in an unfamiliar language, they hire translators and sworn experts to provide samples of that writer's work. The remaining elements of the process are similar to those for other Nobel Prizes.

Nobel Prize amount

The winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature receives a gold medal, a diploma with a citation, and a sum of money. The amount of the prize awarded depends on the income of the Nobel Foundation that year. If the prize is awarded to more than one laureate, the money is either divided in half between them, or, if there are three laureates, divided in half and the other half divided into two quarters of the amount. If a prize is awarded jointly to two or more laureates, the money is divided between them.

The Nobel Prize prize fund has fluctuated since its inception, but as of 2012 it was 8,000,000 kroner (about US$1,100,000), having previously been 10,000,000 kroner. This was not the first time the prize amount was reduced. Starting from a face value of 150,782 kronor in 1901 (equivalent to 8,123,951 Swedish kronor in 2011), the face value was only 121,333 kroner (equivalent to 2,370,660 Swedish kronor in 2011) in 1945. But since then the amount has risen or been stable, peaking at SEK 11,659,016 in 2001.

Nobel Prize medals

Nobel Prize medals struck by the Swedish and Norwegian mints since 1902 are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation. The obverse (front side) of each medal depicts the left profile of Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Prize medals in physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, literature have the same obverses with the image of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death (1833-1896). Nobel's portrait is also featured on the obverse of the Nobel Peace Prize medal and the Economic Prize medal, but the design is slightly different. The image on the reverse side of the medal varies depending on the awarding institution. Reverse sides The Nobel Prize medals for chemistry and physics have the same design. The Nobel Prize in Literature medal was designed by Eric Lindbergh.

Nobel Prize diplomas

Nobel laureates receive their diploma directly from the King of Sweden. The design of each diploma is specially designed by the institution that presents the award to the laureate. The diploma contains an image and text that indicates the name of the laureate, and usually states why he received the award.

Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature

Selection of candidates for the Nobel Prize

Potential recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature are difficult to predict because nominations are kept secret for fifty years until a database of nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature is made publicly available. On this moment Only nominations submitted between 1901 and 1965 are available for public viewing. Such secrecy leads to speculation about the next Nobel Prize winner.

What about the rumors spreading around the world regarding certain people who are supposedly nominated for the Nobel Prize this year? - Well, either these are just rumors, or one of the invited persons proposing the nominees leaked the information. Since nominations are kept secret for 50 years, you'll have to wait until you know for sure.

According to Professor Göran Malmqvist of the Swedish Academy, Chinese writer Shen Congwen should have been awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature if he had not died suddenly this year.

Criticism of the Nobel Prize

Controversy over the selection of Nobel laureates

From 1901 to 1912, a committee led by the conservative Karl David af Wiersen assessed literary value work compared with his contribution to the aspiration of humanity on the path “towards the ideal”. Tolstoy, Ibsen, Zola and Mark Twain were rejected in favor of authors few read today. In addition, many believe that Sweden's historical antipathy towards Russia is the reason why neither Tolstoy nor Chekhov were awarded the prize. During and immediately after World War I, the Committee adopted a policy of neutrality, giving preference to authors from non-combatant countries. The committee repeatedly passed over August Strindberg. However, he received the special honor of being awarded the Anti-Nobel Prize, which was awarded to him following the stormy national recognition in 1912 by the future Prime Minister Karl Hjalmar Branting. James Joyce wrote books that took 1st and 3rd places in the list of the 100 best novels of our time - Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but Joyce was never awarded the Nobel Prize. As his biographer Gordon Bowker wrote, "The prize was simply beyond Joyce's reach."

The Academy found Czech writer Karel Capek's novel "War with the Newts" too offensive for the German government. In addition, he refused to provide any non-controversial publication of his that could be cited in evaluating his work, stating: “Thank you for your favor, but I have already written my doctoral dissertation.” Thus, he was left without a bonus.

The first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature only in 1909 was Selma Lagerlöf (Sweden 1858-1940) for “the high idealism, vivid imagination and spiritual penetration that distinguish all her works.”

French novelist and intellectual Andre Malraux was seriously considered for the prize in the 1950s, according to Swedish Academy archives reviewed by Le Monde after its opening in 2008. Malraux competed with Camus, but was turned down several times, notably in 1954 and 1955, "until he returned to the novel." Thus Camus was awarded the prize in 1957.

Some believe that W. H. Auden was not awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature because of errors in his 1961 translation of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dag Hammarskjöld's book Vägmärken /Markings, and statements Auden made during his lecture tour of Scandinavia, suggesting that Hammarskjöld, like Auden himself, was homosexual.

In 1962, John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature. The choice was heavily criticized, and was called "one of the Academy's biggest mistakes" by one Swedish newspaper. Newspaper " The New York Times" wondered why the Nobel Committee gave the prize to an author whose "limited talent even at his best books diluted with the most base philosophizing,” adding the following: “it seems curious to us that the writer ... whose significance, influence and perfection literary heritage has already had a more profound impact on the literature of our time." Steinbeck himself, when asked on the day the results were announced whether he deserved the Nobel Prize, replied: "Honestly, no." In 2012 (50 years later), the Nobel Committee opened its archives, and it turned out that Steinbeck was a "compromise option" among shortlisted nominees such as Steinbeck himself, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Durrell, French playwright Jean Anouilh, and Danish writer Karen Blixen. Declassified documents indicate that he was chosen as the lesser evil. "There are no clear candidates for the Nobel Prize, and the prize committee is in an unenviable position,” writes committee member Henry Olson.

In 1964, Jean-Paul Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, but refused it, stating that "There is a difference between signing 'Jean-Paul Sartre' or 'Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize Laureate.'" A writer should not allow transform oneself into an institution, even if it takes the most honorable forms."

Soviet dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a 1970 laureate, did not attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm for fear that the USSR would prevent his return after his trip (his work there was distributed through samizdat, an underground form of press). After the Swedish government refused to honor Solzhenitsyn with a formal award ceremony as well as a lecture at the Swedish Embassy in Moscow, Solzhenitsyn refused the prize altogether, noting that the conditions set by the Swedes (who preferred a private ceremony) were "an insult to the Nobel Prize itself." Solzhenitsyn accepted the award and cash prize only on December 10, 1974, when he was deported from the Soviet Union.

In 1974, Graham Greene, Vladimir Nabokov, and Saul Bellow were considered for the prize but were rejected in favor of a joint prize given to Swedish authors Eivind Jonson and Harry Martinson, then members of the Swedish Academy and unknown outside their country. Bellow received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1976. Neither Greene nor Nabokov were awarded the prize.

Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges was nominated for the prize several times, but according to Edwin Williamson, Borges' biographer, the Academy did not give him the award, most likely because of his support for some Argentine and Chilean right-wing military dictators, including Augusto Pinochet. whose social and personal connections were intricate, according to Colm Tóibín's review of Williamson's Borges in Life. Denying Borges a Nobel Prize for supporting these right-wing dictators contrasts with the Committee's recognition of writers who openly supported controversial left-wing dictatorships, including Joseph Stalin in the cases of Sartre and Pablo Neruda. In addition, the support of Gabriel García Márquez for the Cuban revolutionary and President Fidel Castro was controversial.

The honoring of Italian playwright Dario Fo in 1997 was initially considered "rather superficial" by some critics, as he was primarily seen as a performer, and Catholic organizations found Fo's award controversial since he had previously been denounced by the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano expressed surprise at Fo's choice, noting that "Giving a prize to someone who is also the author of dubious works is unthinkable." Salman Rushdie and Arthur Miller were clear candidates for the prize, but Nobel organizers later was quoted as saying that doing so would be "too predictable, too popular."

Camilo José Cela willingly offered his services as an informant for the Franco regime and voluntarily moved from Madrid to Galicia during the Spanish Civil War to join the rebel forces there. Miguel Angel Villena's article "Between Fear and Impunity", which collected comments from Spanish novelists on the remarkable silence of the older generation of Spanish novelists regarding the past of public intellectuals under the Franco dictatorship, appeared under a photograph of Sela during his Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm in 1989 .

The choice of the 2004 laureate, Elfriede Jelinek, was protested by Swedish Academy member Knut Anlund, who has not been active at the Academy since 1996. Anlund resigned, claiming that Jelinek's selection caused "irreparable damage" to the reputation of the prize.

The announcement of Harold Pinter as the 2005 winner was delayed for several days, apparently due to Ahnlund's resignation, leading to renewed speculation that there was a "political element" to the Swedish Academy's awarding of the Prize. Although Pinter was unable to read his controversial Nobel lecture personally, due to ill health, he broadcast it from a television studio and it was transmitted via video to screens in front of an audience at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. His comments became the source large quantity interpretations and discussions. Question about their political position" was also raised in response to the Nobel Prize in Literature being awarded to Orhan Pamuk and Doris Lessing in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

The 2016 choice was Bob Dylan, marking the first time in history that a musician and songwriter has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The award sparked some controversy, particularly among writers who argued that Dylan's literary work was not equal to that of some of his colleagues. Lebanese novelist Rabih Alameddine tweeted that "Bob Dylan winning the Nobel Prize in Literature is like Mrs. Fields' cookies getting 3 Michelin stars." French-Moroccan writer Pierre Assouline called this decision “contempt for writers.” In a live webchat hosted by The Guardian, Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgaard said: "I'm very discouraged. I love that the novel judging committee is opening up to other types of literature - song lyrics and so on, I think that's wonderful. But knowing that Dylan is from the same generation as Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, I find it very difficult to accept." Scottish writer Irvine Welsh said: "I'm a Dylan fan, but this award is just ill-weighted nostalgia spewed out by the senile, rancid prostates of mumbling hippies." Dylan's fellow songwriter and friend Leonard Cohen said no awards were needed to recognize the greatness of the man who transformed pop music with records like Highway 61 Revisited. “For me,” Cohen said, “[awarding the Nobel Prize] is like hanging a medal on Mount Everest for being the high mountain" Writer and columnist Will Self wrote that the award "devalued" Dylan, while he hoped the winner would "follow Sartre's example and reject the award."

Controversial Nobel Prize awards

The prize's focus on Europeans, and Swedes in particular, has been the subject of criticism, even in Swedish newspapers. Most of the laureates were European, with Sweden receiving more bonuses than all of Asia along with Latin America. In 2009, Horace Engdahl, later Permanent Secretary of the Academy, said that “Europe is still the center of the literary world,” and that “the United States is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough works, and they don't participate very actively in the larger literary dialogue."

In 2009, Peter Englund, Engdahl's replacement, rejected this view (“In most linguistic fields... there are authors who truly deserve and could receive a Nobel Prize, and this applies both to the United States and to the Americas in in general") and acknowledged the Eurocentric nature of the prize, stating: "I think that's a problem. We tend to respond more readily to literature written in Europe and in European tradition"American critics have famously objected that their compatriots such as Philip Roth, Thomas Pynchon and Cormac McCarthy have been overlooked, as have Latin Americans such as Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, and Carlos Fuentes. while the continent's lesser-known Europeans prevailed.The 2009 award to Herta Müller, previously little known outside Germany but many times cited as a Nobel favorite, renewed the view that the Swedish Academy was biased and Eurocentric.

However, the 2010 prize was awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa, who was originally from Peru in South America. When the prize was awarded to the eminent Swedish poet Tumas Tranströmer in 2011, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Peter Englund said that the prize was not awarded on a political basis, describing it as "literature for dummies." The next two awards were given by the Swedish Academy to non-Europeans, Chinese author Mo Yan, and Canadian writer Alice Munro. Victory French writer Modiano in 2014 renewed the issue of Eurocentrism. Answering the question " The Wall Street Journal" "So no Americans again this year? Why?" Englund reminded Americans of last year's winner's Canadian origins, the Academy's commitment to quality literature and the impossibility of awarding everyone who deserves the prize.

Undeserved Nobel Prizes

In the history of the Nobel Prize in Literature, many were missed literary achievements. Literary historian Kjell Espmark admitted that when “it comes to early prizes, poor choices and glaring omissions are often justified. For example, instead of Sully Prudhomme, Aiken, and Heise, Tolstoy, Ibsea, and Henry James should have been awarded." There are omissions that are beyond the control of the Nobel Committee, for example due to the premature death of the author, as was the case with Marcel Proust, Italo Calvino, and Roberto Bolaño. According to Kjell Espmark, “the main works of Kafka, Cavafy and Pessoa were published only after their deaths, and the world learned about the true greatness of Mandelstam’s poetry primarily from unpublished poems that his wife saved from oblivion later for a long time after his death in Siberian exile." The British novelist Tim Parkes attributed the endless controversy surrounding the Nobel Committee's decisions to "the fundamental frivolity of the prize and our own stupidity in taking it seriously", and also noted that "eighteen (or sixteen) Swedish citizens will have a certain authority in judging the works of Swedish literature, but what group could ever really embrace in their minds the infinitely varied work of dozens different traditions? And why should we ask them to do this?"

Equivalents to the Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize for Literature is not the only literary prize for which authors of all nationalities are eligible. Other notable international literary awards include the Neustadt Literary Prize, the Franz Kafka Prize, and the Man Booker International Prize. Unlike the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Man Booker International Prize, and the Neustadt Prize for Literature are awarded every two years. Journalist Hepzibah Anderson noted that the International Booker Prize "is rapidly becoming a more significant award, serving as an increasingly competent alternative to the Nobel." Booker International Prize"emphasizes the overall contribution of one writer to fiction on the world stage" and "focuses only on literary skill". Since it was only established in 2005, it is not yet possible to analyze the importance of its influence on potential future winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Only Alice Munro (2009) has been awarded both. However, some winners of the Man Booker International Prize, such as Ismail Kadare (2005) and Philip Roth (2011) are considered candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Neustadt Literary Prize is considered one of the most prestigious international literary prizes, and is often referred to as the American equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Like the Nobel or Man Booker Prize, it is awarded for any work, but for the entire work of the author. The prize is often seen as an indicator that a certain author can be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Gabriel García Márquez (1972 - Neustadt, 1982 - Nobel), Czeslaw Milosz (1978 - Neustadt, 1980 - Nobel), Octavio Paz (1982 - Neustadt, 1990 - Nobel), Tranströmer (1990 - Neustadt, 2011 - Nobel) were initially awarded the Neustadt International literary prize, before they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Another award worth considering is the Princess of Asturias Prize (formerly the Irinian Asturias Prize) for Literature. In its early years it was awarded almost exclusively to writers who wrote in Spanish, but later bonus Writers working in other languages ​​were also honored. Writers who have received both the Princess of Asturias Prize for Literature and the Nobel Prize for Literature include Camilo José Cela, Günter Grass, Doris Lessing, and Mario Vargas Llosa.

The American Literature Prize, which does not include a cash prize, is an alternative to the Nobel Prize in Literature. To date, Harold Pinter and José Saramago are the only writers to have received both literary prizes.

There are also prizes that recognize the lifetime achievements of writers in specific languages, such as the Miguel de Cervantes Prize (for authors writing in Spanish, established in 1976), and the Camões Prize (for Portuguese-language authors, established in 1989). Nobel laureates who have also been awarded the Cervantes Prize: Octavio Paz (1981 - Cervantes, 1990 - Nobel), Mario Vargas Llosa (1994 - Cervantes, 2010 - Nobel), and Camilo José Cela (1995 - Cervantes, 1989 - Nobel). José Saramago is to date the only author to have received both the Camões Prize (1995) and the Nobel Prize (1998).

The Hans Christian Andersen Prize is sometimes called the "Little Nobel". The award deserves its name because, like the Nobel Prize in Literature, it takes into account the lifetime achievements of writers, although the Andersen Prize focuses on one category of literary works (children's literature).

Since the delivery of the first Nobel Prize 112 years have passed. Among Russians worthy of this most prestigious award in the field literature, physics, chemistry, medicine, physiology, peace and economics there were only 20 people. As for the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Russians have their own in this area personal history, not always with a positive ending.

First awarded in 1901, it bypassed the most important writer in history. Russian and world literature - Leo Tolstoy. In their 1901 address, members of the Royal Swedish Academy formally paid their respects to Tolstoy, calling him "the deeply revered patriarch modern literature" and "one of those powerful soulful poets about whom in in this case should remember first of all,” however, they referred to the fact that, in view of their convictions, great writer he himself “never aspired to this kind of reward.” In his response letter, Tolstoy wrote that he was glad that he was spared the difficulties associated with the disposal of so much money and that he was pleased to receive notes of sympathy from so many respected persons. Things were different in 1906, when Tolstoy, preempting his nomination for the Nobel Prize, asked Arvid Järnefeld to use all kinds of connections so as not to be put in an unpleasant position and refuse this prestigious award.

In a similar way Nobel Prize in Literature surpassed several other outstanding Russian writers, among whom was also the genius of Russian literature - Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. The first writer admitted to the “Nobel Club” was someone disliked by the Soviet government who emigrated to France Ivan Alekseevich Bunin.

In 1933, the Swedish Academy nominated Bunin for an award “for the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose" Among the nominees this year were also Merezhkovsky and Gorky. Bunin received Nobel Prize in Literature largely thanks to the 4 books about Arsenyev’s life that had been published by that time. During the ceremony, Per Hallström, a representative of the Academy who presented the prize, expressed admiration for Bunin’s ability to “extraordinarily expressively and accurately describe real life" In his response speech, the laureate thanked the Swedish Academy for the courage and honor it showed to the emigrant writer.

A difficult story full of disappointment and bitterness accompanies the receipt of the Nobel Prize in Literature Boris Pasternak. Nominated annually from 1946 to 1958 and awarded this high award in 1958, Pasternak was forced to refuse it. Almost becoming the second Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, the writer was persecuted in his homeland, receiving stomach cancer as a result of nervous shock, from which he died. Justice triumphed only in 1989, when his son Evgeniy Pasternak received an honorary award for him “for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel.”

Sholokhov Mikhail Alexandrovich received the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his novel Quiet Don" in 1965. It is worth noting that the authorship of this deep epic work, despite the fact that the manuscript of the work was found and a computer match was established with the printed edition, there are opponents who claim the impossibility of creating a novel, indicating deep knowledge of the events of the First World War and Civil War at such a young age. The writer himself, summing up his work, said: “I would like my books to help people become better, become purer in soul... If I succeeded in this to some extent, I am happy.”

Solzhenitsyn Alexander Isaevich, winner of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature." Having stayed most During his life in exile and exile, the writer created historical works that were profound and frightening in their authenticity. Upon learning of the Nobel Prize award, Solzhenitsyn expressed his desire to personally attend the ceremony. The Soviet government prevented the writer from receiving this prestigious award, calling it “politically hostile.” Thus, Solzhenitsyn never got to the desired ceremony, fearing that he would not be able to return from Sweden back to Russia.

In 1987 Brodsky Joseph Alexandrovich awarded Nobel Prize for Literature"for comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry." In Russia, the poet never received lifelong recognition. He created while in exile in the USA, most of his works were written in impeccable English. In his speech as a Nobel laureate, Brodsky spoke about what was most dear to him - language, books and poetry...

Only five Russian writers have received the prestigious international Nobel Prize. For three of them, this brought not only worldwide fame, but also widespread persecution, repression and expulsion. Only one of them was approved by the Soviet government, and its last owner was “forgiven” and invited to return to his homeland.

Nobel Prize- one of the most prestigious awards, which is awarded annually for outstanding scientific research, significant inventions and significant contributions to culture and the development of society. There is one comical, but not accidental story connected with its establishment. It is known that the founder of the prize, Alfred Nobel, is also famous for the fact that it was he who invented dynamite (pursuing, however, pacifist goals, since he believed that opponents armed to the teeth would understand the stupidity and senselessness of the war and stop the conflict). When his brother Ludwig Nobel died in 1888, and newspapers erroneously “buried” Alfred Nobel, calling him a “merchant of death,” the latter seriously wondered how society would remember him. As a result of these thoughts, Alfred Nobel changed his will in 1895. And it said the following:

“All my movable and immovable property must be converted by my executors into liquid assets, and the capital thus collected must be placed in a reliable bank. The income from the investments should belong to a fund, which will distribute them annually in the form of bonuses to those who, during the previous year, have brought the greatest benefit to humanity ... The specified interest must be divided into five equal parts, which are intended: one part - to the one who makes the most important discovery or invention in the field of physics; the other - to the one who makes the most important discovery or improvement in the field of chemistry; the third - to the one who makes the most important discovery in the field of physiology or medicine; the fourth - to the one who creates the most outstanding literary work of an idealistic direction; fifth - to the one who will make the most significant contribution to the unity of nations, the abolition of slavery or the reduction of the strength of existing armies and the promotion of peaceful congresses ... It is my special desire that in the awarding of prizes the nationality of the candidates will not be taken into account ... ".

Medal awarded to a Nobel laureate

After conflicts with Nobel’s “deprived” relatives, the executors of his will - his secretary and lawyer - established the Nobel Foundation, whose responsibilities included organizing the presentation of bequeathed prizes. A separate institution was created to award each of the five prizes. So, Nobel Prize in literature came under the purview of the Swedish Academy. Since then, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded annually since 1901, except for 1914, 1918, 1935 and 1940-1943. It is interesting that upon delivery Nobel Prize Only the names of the laureates are announced; all other nominations are kept secret for 50 years.

Swedish Academy building

Despite the apparent disinterest Nobel Prize, dictated by the philanthropic instructions of Nobel himself, many “left” political forces still see obvious politicization and some Western cultural chauvinism in the awarding of the prize. It's hard not to notice that the vast majority Nobel laureates come from the USA and European countries(more than 700 laureates), while the number of laureates from the USSR and Russia is much smaller. Moreover, there is a point of view that the majority of Soviet laureates were awarded the prize only for criticism of the USSR.

Nevertheless, these five Russian writers are laureates Nobel Prize on literature:

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin- laureate of 1933. The prize was awarded “for the strict mastery with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose.” Bunin received the prize while in exile.

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak- laureate of 1958. The prize was awarded “for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel.” This prize is associated with the anti-Soviet novel “Doctor Zhivago”, therefore, in conditions of severe persecution, Pasternak is forced to refuse it. The medal and diploma were awarded to the writer’s son Evgeniy only in 1988 (the writer died in 1960). It is interesting that in 1958 this was the seventh attempt to present Pasternak with the prestigious prize.

Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov- laureate of 1965. The prize was awarded “For artistic power and the integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia.” This award has a long history. Back in 1958, a delegation of the USSR Writers' Union visiting Sweden contrasted the European popularity of Pasternak with the international popularity of Sholokhov, and in a telegram Soviet ambassador in Sweden on April 7, 1958 it was said:

“It would be desirable to make it clear to the Swedish public through cultural figures close to us that the Soviet Union would highly appreciate the award Nobel Prize Sholokhov... It is also important to make it clear that Pasternak as a writer is not recognized by Soviet writers and progressive writers of other countries.”

Contrary to this recommendation, Nobel Prize in 1958, it was nevertheless awarded to Pasternak, which resulted in severe disapproval of the Soviet government. But in 1964 from Nobel Prize Jean-Paul Sartre refused, explaining, among other things, his personal regret that Sholokhov was not awarded the prize. It was this gesture of Sartre that predetermined the choice of the laureate in 1965. Thus, Mikhail Sholokhov became the only Soviet writer who received Nobel Prize with the consent of the top leadership of the USSR.

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn- laureate of 1970. The prize was awarded “for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature.” From start creative path Solzhenitsyn only 7 years passed before the prize was awarded - this is the only similar case in the history of the Nobel Committee. Solzhenitsyn himself spoke about political aspect awarding him the prize, but the Nobel Committee denied this. However, after Solzhenitsyn received the prize, a propaganda campaign was organized against him in the USSR, and in 1971, an attempt was made to physically destroy him when he was injected with a toxic substance, after which the writer survived, but was ill for a long time.

Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky- laureate of 1987. The prize was awarded “for comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry.” Awarding the prize to Brodsky no longer caused such controversy as many other decisions of the Nobel Committee, since Brodsky by that time was known in many countries. In his first interview after he was awarded the prize, he himself said: “It was received by Russian literature, and it was received by an American citizen.” And even the weakened Soviet government, shaken by perestroika, began to establish contacts with the famous exile.